Mary magdalene pdf

Mary Magdalene was the first person Jesus approached and spoke to after he rose from the dead. The most beautiful and sacred story ever written.

Saint Mary Magdalene was a misunderstood, lost, but true hearted and dedicated soul. This lost and forgotten book has been resurrected by R. Sirus Kname in keeping the exact wording, spelling, punctuation, and format of the original source written in the year Grace your brain and bookshelf and preserve this precious story. Reverend Thomas S. Preston was a Roman Catholic Vicar-General of New York, prothonotary Apostolic, chancellor, author, preacher, and administrator.

All monetary profit, if any, derived from this book will be joyfully given, by R. Sirius Kname, to the church in deserving, if any. Mary Magdalene, known as the "Apostle of the Apostles" because the Risen Christ appeared first to her, and she announced his Resurrection to the apostles. It is designed to help readers learn from the inspiring example of Magdalene to enter more deeply into adoration and love of Jesus Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.

In telling the story of her profound conversion after a life so steeped in sin that the Lord had to expel seven demons from her soul, this book shows how Magdalene is a shining witness to the transforming power of an encounter with Jesus Christ, an encounter for her which blossomed into a life of adoration, meditation and prayer.

Thus she is seen as the perfect biblical model for those who have encountered Christ, and who seek to deepen their life of adoration at the feet of the Eucharistic Lord. After explaining how the traditional image of the penitent Magdalene developed and why it does not do justice to the biblical and historical woman behind the legend, I will introduce some new directions in recent Magdalene studies.

She is mentioned in all four Gospels as one of several Galilean women who followed Jesus and supported him and the other disciples out of their per- sonal means Matthew ; Mark ; Luke She, with other women, witnesses the burial of Jesus Mark ; Matthew ; Luke In both Matthew and John, Jesus commissions her to tell the other disciples about the resurrection Matthew ; John ; see also Mark Jerome, Letter to Principia , Her importance is signified by the fact that in lists of female disciples, she is always mentioned first Matthew , 61; ; Mark , 47; ; Luke ; Although all four Gospels contain stories of women who anoint Jesus see Mark ; Matthew , none of them is identified as Mary Magdalene.

However, there are several references in post-biblical tradition to the sisters Martha and Mary of Bethany visiting the tomb and meeting with the risen Jesus, which led some early Christians to conclude that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany were the same person. Although Gnostics varied in their doctrines and practices, they were unified by the belief that knowledge or insight into the true nature of the human soul and its relationship to God was the key to salvation.

Some Gnostics were more open to female leadership, and to female images of the divine, than other ancient Christians. The Gnostic Mary is actually a composite figure who partakes in characteristics of both Mary Magdalene—faithful disciple and resurrection witness—and Mary of Bethany, who learns at the feet of Jesus Luke , is beloved by him John , and who is commended by him Luke ; John Much as the composite Mary functioned as a model of faithfulness and later repentance for non-Gnostic Christians, the Gnostic Mary was the ideal enlightened disciple.

Perhaps the most sensational claim that has been made about Mary Magdalene is that she was not only a faithful disciple and teacher, but that she was actually married to Jesus, and that she secretly bore his child, an heir to the messianic dynasty.

Subsequently, novelists such as Kathleen McGowan have published similar works of fiction. Several of these books present Jesus and Mary Magdalene as a model of equality and mutuality for married couples.

The theory that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were husband and wife is developed differently by the various authors. Indeed, the love of Jesus for all his brothers and sisters is a theme of the Gospel of John e.

In fact, there are two medieval references from southern France—where local Catholics believed that Mary Magdalene was buried—that claim the Cathars taught that Christ and the Magdalene were married. Thus, it is unlikely that the Cathars viewed the relationship between Jesus and Mary as a paradigm for human marriage affirmative of sexuality, or that they believed the couple had children.

Furthermore, these references to Cathar doctrines are from Catholic witnesses who regarded the Cathars as deplorable heretics, and so were inclined to present Cathar teachings as bizarre and shocking.

In addition, there is evidence that the Cathars had a tendency to interpret biblical and theological metaphors literally. For example, some Cathars apparently interpreted the theological axiom that the Virgin had conceived Christ through her ear, referring to her obedience to the divine word, to mean that she had actually conceived—and given birth—to Jesus through her ear canal.

While it is easy to sympathize with the Cathars, who were brutally exterminated in the Albigensian Crusade , it is unlikely that their esoteric doctrines shed much light on the historical Mary Magdalene.

Who is Mary Magdalene? The references to Cathar belief in a married Christ reflect the medieval legend that Mary Magdalene was a sinful woman saved from her depravity by Jesus; the witnesses to this Cathar belief state that they identified her with the Samaritan woman at the well John and the woman taken in adultery John Although the Cathars believed in a purely divine Christ, there is no evidence that they regarded Mary Magdalene as a divinity.

This does not mean that metaphors of the divine in feminine terms are foreign to the Bible or to Christianity. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott has shown that there are many biblical images of God as female—for example, as a mother in labor Isaiah , as a nursing mother Isaiah , as a midwife Psalm , as a mother hen Matthew ; Luke , or as a bakerwoman Matthew ; Luke